Ted Cruz Ramping up Attacks on Marco Rubio Before Iowa Vote

DES MOINES, IOWA. With only days until the Iowa caucus, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) is turning his attention to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-TX), hitting him on his record of supporting comprehensive immigration reform.

On Friday, Cruz changed his typical stump speech to include attacks on Rubio.

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Cruz went after Rubio’s record, saying that Americans are “tired of being burned by politicians who claim to be against amnesty.”

“Marco Rubio has gone on Univision and said in Spanish, ‘No, no, no, I wouldn’t rescind amnesty,’”Cruz added.

According to the New York Times, Cruz is also expected to buy negative ads against Rubio:

Mr. Cruz intends to direct his firepower at his Senate colleague after days of seeing Mr. Rubio inch up both in public polling and his own private surveys, according to two advisers to Mr. Cruz who spoke on the condition of anonymity. After leading in the polls in Iowa for much of the last month, Mr. Cruz has slipped into second behind Mr. Trump in most public surveys.

The change of direction marks an abrupt shift, reflecting how volatile the race in Iowa remains: Mr. Cruz’s campaign only began airing negative spots against Mr. Trump this week and just put their first attack ad up against Mr. Rubio on Thursday on Iowa television.

Mr. Cruz will continue to air two positive ads about himself in the race’s closing days, including a testimonial from Representative Steve King of Iowa. But his campaign is increasingly concerned about Mr. Rubio creeping up to 20 percent in the caucuses and finishing close to the two dominant candidates here.